BORN SCARBOROUGH 7/10/1899. FOURTH SON OF ISSAC ORR AND MARY JANE NELSON, OF 57 , WOODHOUSE STREET, HULL. ONE OF NINE CHILDREN. ENLISTED 02/05/1915. KILLED BY INTERNAL EXPLOSION OF HMS ‘VANGUARD’ AT SCAPA FLOW, ON 09/07/1917. AGED 18. COMMEMORATED AT CHATHAM TOWER HILL NAVAL MEMORIAL. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, 25/07/1917. *
The eighth HMS VANGUARD of the British Royal Navy was a St Vincent class battleship, an enhancement of the ´dreadnought´ design built by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched in April 1909, commissioned into the Royal Navy at Devonport in October 1910, and spent her life in the Home Fleet. At the outbreak of World War I, she joined the First Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow, and fought in the Battle of Jutland as part of the Fourth Battle Squadron. She was a part of the action from beginning to end, but did not suffer any damage or casualties. Just before midnight on Monday, July 9, 1917, VANGUARD suffered an explosion in one of the two magazines which served the amidships turrets P and Q. She sank almost instantly, killing 677 men. Read more at wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?10477
